It’s possible that Patrick Ruffini, normally a pretty astute commenter on the conservative side of the political scene, is having us all on with this post about “Why a Mormon Speech?” Our first clue that he might be being sarcastic is when he calls the announcement of a “Mormon speech” “relatively unexpected.” Yes, it was about as …

Who knew? Apparently, all this time, Karl Rove was really angling for a seat on the Chris Matthews Show. In today’s Financial Times, he offers advice to Barack Obama on how to beat Hillary Clinton. Much of it appears to be what Obama has figured out for himself. Like this:

Clinton’s poll-driven attack on Obama today seems a bit too sweaty and desperate for her current situation, which is still a dead heat in the totally unpredictable January 3 caucus, although an Obamaward ripple can be discerned.

George Costanza would sympathize with Harry Reid in coming weeks, as the Senate Majority Leader sees worlds collide. The Washington Post has a good story today by Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane summing up all the major legislation that Congress will be trying to get done before it leaves for the year, dealing with: warrantless …

This LA Times piece, by two people I respect–one of whom, Fred Siegel, is a good friend of mine–is pretty far off the mark. It describes Democratic candidates of the recent past, but not the current campaign.

For one thing, all of the Democrats are far more populist than they’ve been in the past. They’ve turned against free trade (a …

This article about corruption in Iraq is stunning, but not surprising. And it doesn’t even mention the oil sector–where, I’m told, the 30% rule applies: at least 1/3 of the revenues are, literally, siphoned off.
Two points: Obviously, there is absolutely nothing the U.S. military presence can do about this. And less obviously, there is …

As Wall Street rallied this week, it seemed that investors were taking comfort in the notion that the economy had become so imperiled by the crumbling housing market that it was forcing the government to finally mount an aggressive rescue effort.

It turns out they still know how to write laws. After a lot of very difficult negotiation, House and Senate negotiators last night reached a deal on an important energy bill that would require automakers to increase fuel efficiency standards by 40% by 2020–the first increase since the current standards were set in 1984. As California …

The stories keep on coming. Today’s New York Daily News reports that while America’s Mayor was attending funerals for the victims of 9/11, city taxpayers were paying for his girlfriend to visit her parents:

In the fall of 2001, city cops chauffeured Rudy Giuliani’s then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents’ Pennsylvania home 130

Well, John Murtha has just come back from Iraq and says the “surge is working.” I think that’s still premature. Clearly, the situation on the ground has improved–but we have little sense of the long-term motivations or strategies of the key players. Baghdad is held by the Sadrists, who are lying low for now. Basra is uncontrolled chaos, …

In today’s Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley Strassel points to an interesting paradox. Fred Thompson has begun putting forward some ideas that might actually gain some traction for his candidacy with the Republican base, were it not for a campaign that, as she puts it, “has been as fizzy as day-old cherry Coke.”:

Been on the road most of the day, heading to Iowa…but I just noticed Krugman’s column today. He makes several excellent points…and infers a surprising conclusion about Barack Obama’s positioning in the race.

First of all, Krugman is absolutely right that Obama’s health care plan is inferior because it doesn’t mandate coverage, as …

It’s terrible that anyone should be so terrorized; it’s possible that this situation is not so much a political act as a case of an unhinged person taking aim at prominent public figure. Though I don’t doubt this is an emotional time for staffers and an agonizing time for those who care about the hostages, I wonder if the media attention …